Friday, July 16, 2010

A note to my readers

The arrival of high summer, and the evolution of my online presence, will result in some editorial changes in the rhythm and content of American History Now. Since its launch about a year and a half ago, this site has had a steady schedule of thrice-weekly blog postings. These posts have been of two varieties. About half took the form of brief episodes in the life of a teacher, first in the form of "The Felix Chronicles" (during the spring of 2009) and then in the form of "The Maria Chronicles (during the 2009-10 school year). The other half took the form of short essays of cultural commentary, very often in the form of book reviews. All told, there have been about 225 of these pieces, ranging anywhere from 500 to 1500 words in length, along with shorter posts to mark holidays and vacation times.

One of the most important professional developments in my life in the last year has been my work for the History News Network website, where I am now one of four Book Editors. Since last spring, I have written dozens of reviews and essays for the site, all of which have been cross-posted at this blog. I plan to continue writing for HNN, and to post those pieces here. However, I will not be publishing at the site with the same pace and consistency as I have before.

The main reason for this change is my desire end what has been a three-year hiatus since I was last working steadily on a book, and intensify research I've been doing on the way history is portrayed in film. It is my hope that over time a workable project will take shape, and that I can use this blog as a means for essaying ideas along the way. I plan to post new content in the site in the coming days on this work.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my readers over these months, and to express my hope that you will continue to visit. I've been very grateful for your kind words and interest.

About King's Survey

King's Survey is an imaginary high school history class taught by Abraham King, a.k.a. "Mr. K." Though the posts proceed in a loosely chronological fashion, you can drop in on the conversation any time. For more background on this series, see my other site, Conversing History. The opening chapter of "Kings Survey" is directly below.

“The Greatest Catholic Poet of Our Time . . . Is a Guy from the JerseyShore? Yup,” in The Best Catholic Writing 2007, edited by Jim Manney (Chicago: Loyola Press, 2007)

“I’s a Man Now: Gender and African-American Men,” in Divided Houses:Gender and the Civil War, edited by Nina Silber and Catherine Clinton (Oxford University Press, 1992).

THE COMPLETE MARIA CHRONICLES, 2009-2010

Most writing in the vast discourse about American education is analytic and/or prescriptive: It tells. Little of that writing is actually done by active classroom teachers. The Maria Chronicles, like the Felix Chronicles that preceded them (see directly below), takes a different approach: They show. These (very) short stories of moments in the life of the fictional Maria Bradstreet, who teaches U.S. history at Hudson High School, located somewhere in metropolitan New York, dramatize the issues, ironies, and realities of a life in schools. I hope you find them entertaining. And, just maybe, useful, whether you’re a teacher or not.–Jim Cullen